


Scenes from a Winter's Night

by BardicRaven



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: Being a Prince isn't all it's Cracked Up to Be, Choice of Two Sons, Christmas, F/M, First Christmas, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Inconvenient Spare, Perfection is Required, Politics, husband and wife, political scheming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:46:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8948755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/pseuds/BardicRaven
Summary: Their first Christmas together as husband and wife and Belle and Adam have to fend off the relatives - and everyone else who wants to see them fail.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [butterflyslinky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/gifts).



# The Ballroom

The snow twinkled against the enormous glass panes of the ballroom. The room was festooned with holly and pine, the sharp smell of resin and needle filling the air.

Cogsworth looked around, satisfied. The room was ready. Everything proper, as it should be.

He stepped out into the room, dared to take a twirl around the floor before stopping himself. This was no time to be silly. Or to get dreams above his station. His master was a kind man now, but there were still the others, others who were not so forbearing.

The Prince’s return to human form had not been met with universal delight. There were those out there who would have been more than pleased for him to have failed. Those who had coveted the lands and the power.

Gaston and his kind were not the only ones out there who preyed on the weak and the unwary.

So everything had to be perfect. Done by custom and form. Nothing missing, no places where those who looked could find weakness or sloppiness, lack of care or attention.

But still, it was fun to look around and imagine something else, even if only for a moment. Another time. Another life. Things that could have been, if only.

And then, he was himself again, content with what was. The Christmas Ball would go off wonderfully, the Prince would find his place confirmed, Belle would win over all their hearts, and all would be well.

Giving a last pat to a swag of pine boughs as he left the room, Cogsworth departed content. There would be much to do on the morrow, but all was as prepared as it could be.

* * *

# The Bedroom

Belle and her Prince lay in the master bedchamber, talking. Well, it hadn’t started out as talking, there was an heir to be gotten after all, as well as the sheer desire between two people who had waited so long and been through so much to be together.

But now they lay there, satiated, talking of the morrow. Of what would be. Of what must be. So much had happened since that fateful day when Belle had chosen her fate and his.

He’d won back his birthright, but not everyone was happy to see him in human form once more. Villager and noble alike were waiting, eager to see what would happen next, how he and his commoner-bride would take to their new roles.

Belle assured him regularly that she was up to the task, that he was as well. That together, there was no obstacle that they couldn’t overcome.

He loved her for her optimism, but often wondered if it were misplaced. There was a reason he’d been cursed, after all, and while he’d fulfilled the terms of the curse, still, all too often, he felt himself desiring to descend into the Beast’s form once more. Where he didn’t have to worry that he wasn’t enough to support his people, protect them from the winter’s chill and all the things that lay within it.

It was easier when if he didn’t like a thing, he could swipe a massive paw at it and hear it crumble delightfully into dust.

Diplomacy was harder. Far harder. And frankly, for all his was the noble blood, not hers, Belle was far better at it than he.

He often wished he could simply leave it all to her, and follow her will, her wishes. But he knew the populace would never stand for it, so he soldiered on, doing the best he could, while all the while a little voice whispered in his ear that he wasn’t worthy of her, of them.

He liked Belle’s whispers in his ear better. He turned his attention back to her now, letting her comforting words soak into his body, warm his soul.

* * *

# The Kitchens

Down in the kitchens, Mrs Potts looked around her, taking a last inventory before she headed up to her room to sleep. Chip was already asleep – since the curse had broken, he’d been back to his old job as potboy and general-helper, run off his feet from dawn ‘til night.

But he didn’t mind. None of them did. They were all happy to be back in human form. Happy to have their Master back and better than he was before. With them, it wasn’t the physical form of their Master that mattered as much as the spiritual. With finding himself worthy of love, he’d found it possible to spread that love to others, others outside his beloved Belle.

They’d been the ones who’d stayed – her and Chip, Bimbette and Lumiere, Cogsworth, as well as those who’d chosen to give up more of their humanity, to go by names less reminiscent of who they’d been – Stove, Baker, Wardrobe, Featherduster, Footstool.

They’d all chosen to stay – been given the choice in a frantic heartbeat as the curse fell. She presumed the others had either been transported away by the same strange magick that had turned them into their other shapes, animated versions of otherwise inanimate objects, but she never knew for sure.

She only knew that when she’d come back to herself to find herself a teapot, that many of the others were gone, and that they did not return with his returning to human form.

Good riddance, really. She’d thought about those who were missing and noticed that they were the ones who were lazy, cold-hearted, selfish, unkind.

The ones who would have already been turned away if it were not for the indulgence of the Prince’s parents.

And ah, there were two others she was as pleased to see the back of. While they’d loved the Prince after a fashion, she noticed that they’d not returned since his return to humanity, except for a brief and all-too-formal kiss-kiss, hug-hug, that nobody believed was real.

There were rumors of another heir, gotten as quickly as could be arranged. Formally declared as heir, leading to the awkward politics of having to tell one son they’d lied.

Which they were doing their best to avoid. Mrs Potts wondered if their kindness back then had been just more of the same – trying to avoid conflict, rather than a true compassionate kindness.

Ah, well, no matter. She knew which side she was on. She’d chosen then and remained true to that choice now.

And part of that was to make sure the kitchens were ready for tomorrow. She looked around, saw that everything was in readiness, and went upstairs to sleep and dream of a beautiful Ball tomorrow, with a Merry Christmas to and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> ##### Hope you enjoyed this look at part of What Happened Next.
> 
> ##### Happy Hollydays!
> 
> ##### Yule Goat to be Named Later


End file.
